Tonay Gooday-Ervin (they/them), Inventory Arborist and Massachusetts Certified Arborist

Tonay is a member of the White Mountain Apache Tribe in Arizona and is a third generation Cuban American. They have lived a majority of their life in New England, learning about the land and interacting with the natural world. In college at the University of Rhode Island they learned about material culture and worked closely with the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan peoples doing archaeology and tribal historic preservation. Tonay is an avid forager and observer of local ecosystems both urban and rural. Their current work is in invasive species control and doing tree risk assessments in the Worcester area with the Davey Resource Group. Aside from tree work Tonay is a lauded dancer of several indigenous styles and also is a local visual artist. Most recently they have been exploring making contemporary art with traditional materials, specifically birch bark. They strive to find meaning and purpose in life by interacting with the environment in several formats and learning about our environment as a skilled worker and artist and an indigenous person.